WoW Gold Facts

“It’s the harmless-looking ones that have the worst bite,” a pet store owner once told me, which I found to be pretty accurate when assessing currency sellers as well.

Whenever I see a crap-looking website, I immediately assume it’s a scammer. But maybe it’s time I widened my net to include skeezebags in sheep’s clothing. Consider: Gamesker.com. This seller pretends to be legitimate, but look closer and you’ll see a swindler par excellence. Truly, the devil is in the details.

Security Certificates – Just For Show

Security certificates are so easy to fake these days. Anyone can go to a major website and lift all the nifty icons and re-paste them on the scam website.

Gamesker.com did just that, not aware that more discerning buyers will also look for the verification link. VeriSign, McAfee, PayPal – all consumer protection features from these companies are checked on a daily basis, and this will be displayed on a clickable link on the icon in question.

All seven icons above from Gamesker.com just redirect you back to the homepage. If you want to compare, just visit EpicToon.com and WoWGoldPig.com or any other reputable seller, and you’ll see that real links offer additional confirmation info.

If Gamesker.com was sneaky enough to lie about its website and payment security, what more with actual service and delivery?

Non-Existent Customer Support

What little hope I had was all but snuffed out when I began searching for a lovely customer agent to help me with an order. You’re all familiar with my MO: I chat them up, ask for supply, get a delivery estimate, and ask other pertinent questions.

But with Gamesker.com you have zero – I repeat ZERO – customer support options. The website offers no customer chat and ALL customer e-mails are addressed to a certain IGEStar.com, but are actually sent to IGE.com.

Confused? Here’s the E-mail Switcheroo Explained!

1. GameSker.com takes your cash and promises to deliver you WoW Gold, RIFT Platinum, etc.

2. You don’t get the currency. You panic and send a customer support e-mail to support@igeSTAR.com but it gets sent to their competitor IGE.com. Click on Gamesker.com support links and get rerouted as follows:

support@igeSTAR.com >> mailto: support@ige.com
feedback@igeSTAR.com >> mailto: feedback@ige.com
vendors@igeSTAR.com >> mailto: vendors@ige.com
press@igeSTAR.com >> mailto: press@ige.com

3. Your e-mail actually gets sent to IGE.com, a legitimate site who has no clue how to help you because Gamesker.com fraudulently forwards the e-mail to them.

4. GameSker.com profits without having to deal with your death threats.

Like some sick joke, Gamesker.com redirects all customer support to IGE.com (without consent) while it takes money from scam orders. This website makes those fly-by-night Chinese spammers look like petty thieves in comparison.

Gamesker.com Formerly Know as IGEStar
By now, you won’t need me to point out the obvious. Gamesker.com was previously IGEStar.com, which I heard from friends was shut down due to fraudulent activities. Remnants of the connection can still be seen all across the site copy:

They may have changed names, but the stink is still there for everyone to sniff. And a number of gamers have already included Gamesker.com in must-avoid lists due to this shady connection.

Gamesker is a Legal MMO Shop? My Ass It’s Legal!

Security fraud – check. Customer support scam – check. Changing names – check.

After all these twisted tactics, Gamesker.com has the audacity to claim “Legal MMO Shop!” in all its web pages. It’s a big fat lie, and I urge everyone to stay far, far away from this blatantly criminal seller.

Shame on you Gamesker.com. Or if you can’t even do that, just die.

P.S. I’ve sent an e-mail to IGE.com to get their official statement on the matter. Looking forward to them fighting words!

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Patch 4.1: Rise of the Zandalari is now live on all realms, and everyone’s gussying up to meet the Zul’Aman and Zul’Gurub gear requirements.

All level 85 toons hoping to tackle the refurbished troll heroics will need an average item level of 346 or higher – and plenty are stocking up on WoW Gold for a quick AH upgrade or two.

Problem is, the scammers are out and about like hungry panthers. Take care youngling, lest you fall for these emerging scams and lose your spending stash for Patch 4.1:

ZUL’AMAN AND ZUL’GURUB MOUNT SCAMS

The new exotic mounts of Zul’Aman and Zul’Gurub are some of the biggest draws of Patch 4.1. These are rare bind-on-pickup drops from bosses and timed runs, and as such cannot be bought through traditional means so save your WoW Gold for other legitimate purchases.

Of course, you can hire account levelers to farm the mounts for you at a steep price, but trust only reputable service providers, and even then the risks are high. This is one of those cases where actual grinding is preferable given high chance of account theft and account ban.

GUILD FINDER NINJA SCAMS

With the Guild Finder going online, it’s now easier than ever for potential ninjas to scan out the wealthiest guilds and plan a massive WoW Gold heist. There will be a large influx of applications from random players, but don’t trust them ASAP with full guild bank privileges.

In turn, if you’re a rich guildless player, don’t go bragging your wealth during application period especially when chatting in public guild chat. This might attract the unwanted attention of scammers who will hit you up for WoW Gold (for ZA or ZG gearing up, etc) and then vanish into thin air.

PATCH 4.1 EMAIL SCAMS

Beware the rash of official-looking alerts sent to your e-mail and in-game inbox. These might be phishing attempts that give a number of “urgent” reasons for you to click on their trap links:

• Your account has been compromised.
• Your account has been suspended.
• Claim your Patch 4.1 mount/gear/Satchel of Exotic Mysteries.

When in doubt, you can always contact Blizzard support, badger a GM, send a ticket via the in-game help system, or post the e-mail in question at the forums for crowdsourced deliberation (most of the time, official reps will chime in together with surprisingly accurate player assessment).

WOW GOLD DEAL SCAMS

The demand for WoW Gold during the next few weeks is going to be astronomical. Mixed in with legitimate sellers will be scammers that entice with low prices but then fail to deliver on time, if at all.

Do not click on links spammed on trade chat or whispered to your toon no matter how tasty the offer seems. Even Google searches are not as reliable, with plenty of scammers gaming the system to come out on top. Before purchasing always to customer service and read through testimonials found through the internet.

Trusted guild members can also refer you to legitimate and safe sellers. Be sure to ask for the latest discount or WoW Gold bonus coupons, which are delivered via excellently worded, professionally designed newsletters. (Misspellings, poor grammar, childish emoticons, and the use of Comic Sans-like fonts are big red flags!)

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Bigshot virtual currency seller IGE.com has jumped on the social network bandwagon, and the initial launch is so splashy, I’d imagine competitors are drowning in a sea of QQ tears.

OK, so I’m exaggerating, but there is something brilliant about the marketing campaign of this industry veteran. In exchange for liking or following its newly launched fan pages on Facebook (facebook.com/trustige) and Twitter (twitter.com/ige), IGE will automatically enter your name in a freebie contest.

Get picked by the RNG? Then it’s 200,000 WoW Gold or 500 Rift Platinum for you. Yeah good luck spending all that.

More than a dozen friends IM’ed to confirm if this contest is legitimate, and it would seem so based on my informants both inside the company and in competitor sites who are probably cooking up their own contests at this moment.

Spearheading this virtual push is a certain Anthony Hilson, so-called “friendliest gamer on Earth” based on an e-mail I received over the weekend. Probably doesn’t PvP, but this is just pure conjecture. I’ve never met this guy, and the short time I spent chatting him up on Facebook chat yielded some crucial facts about him:

- He knows his MMO stuff. (“I remember thinking: ‘This Hogger is ridiculously hard for a level 10 elite,’” I shared when he asked what got me into playing WoW and blogging, and then he corrected me in a heartbeat. “Eleven. He’s level 11.”)

- He hates grinding. (“With a deadly passion!”)

- He has a soft spot for newbies. (“I’ve been known to be a sucker for mendicants, male or female, semi-naked or otherwise.”)

He said the contest was a way for them to give back to the community that’s been loyal to them the past eight years they’ve been in business. And seeing those numbers blow up will grow your e-p33n, I thought, but then who wouldn’t?

If you’re ready to face the charm offensive of Mr. Hilson and the rest of his IGE team, then like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. Plus there’s a 10% coupon for you – not a bad trade-off for a single click.

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It’s been a disappointing few weeks, what with the consistently dismal service I’ve been getting from so-called “dependable” sellers of Rift Platinum. Time after time after time, stock has been nonexistent and I was beginning to think Rift Platinum was some sort of fictitious contraband rarer than Cuban cigars.

You have to understand that when I headed to EpicToon.com, my patience was running more than a little thin. I didn’t alert them to my visit, and just showed up on a weekend night, typically the biggest traffic window for sellers since it coincides with raiding time.

I first checked out their game page and found it to be fairly uncluttered and error-free. The one mention of Rift Gold is forgivable because they seem to be able to know how to use punctuation marks.

They get the currency selection just right. The lower end offers a way for small spenders to fund their mount purchases, while the min-maxing big spenders can go all out on auction house gear with up to 450 Plat. Everything in between can choose in increments of 25 and 50. (Would be nice to have a 500 Plat option, but now I’m really nitpicking)

The prices are in the range of other big league sellers. They only look slightly higher when compared to the flaky lower-tier sellers and bottom barrel scum that peddle bogus stock.

Three things about the chat worth noting:

1. I applaud their honesty in how stock is actually handled. Rift Platinum isn’t actually stored in a seller’s coffers; it’s requested from a cadre of other suppliers. So the more dependable the network of suppliers is, the faster you get your order. It shows how well-trained the agent is because he or she can explain the nuance without drowning me in technical babble.

2. The reminder of a full refund was weirdly comforting. Although I would choose to get my order than have it refunded, this at least puts me at ease that they won’t go running off with my cash. The promise of consistent delivery times regardless of amount ordered is also a plus.

3. Now this is the large kicker. Being given a free coupon code without me asking! I know I could have signaled them off by saying I ordered before; but still. Compare this with other sellers where getting a discount is like pulling teeth. The month-long duration is also really cool.

I was impressed by how well EpicToon.com has gotten its act together for Rift Platinum, considering its peers are scrambling like idiots. I ordered, used the coupon code, got the delivery within the day, and didn’t get spam e-mail.

Overall, a pretty darn good performance that should be applauded in this terrible, terrible drought of decent Rift sellers.

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White lies are harmless, especially when done out of TLC. I still remember those Christmases my mom looked me straight in the face and told me Santa wouldn’t come down the chimney if I didn’t finish my vegetables.

I wish I could say the same for Gamemammy.com, but this conniving store only pretends to care about its customers to get the ka-ching profits.

The Logo Maker Should Be Shot
Before we get into the disappointing service (is it so hard to ask for an upstanding Rift Platinum store—I keep running into the bottom barrel dregs), let me first critique the logo.

COMIC FRIGGIN’ SANS! There’s a reason why this font is hated the world over: it’s the most immature font known to man. Thousands of perfectly reasonable grown ups want to kill, destroy and ban Comic Sans—and still Gamemammy.com uses for their logo. They probably thought it was “cute,” meaning we’re off to an ominous start.

Discriminates Against Small-time Buyers
If you want to purchase Rift Platinum in small doses, then don’t even bother visiting Gamemammy.com. There’s an alarming lack of low denomination offerings.

This just as bad as the website I last reviewed which didn’t offer more than 150 Platinum. Stores should always have the right balance of low (10, 20, 25), medium (50, 100, 150) and high (300, 400, 500) offerings to match the varying needs of players and guilds.

More Customer Training Needed
Quick survey—should it be required for a chat support agent to also be a gamer? If you answered “no, she just has to type in cute emoticons,” then you fully deserve the sloppy service I expect you’ll end up with at Gamemammy. Chat agents should play at least 10 hours of the game he or she is servicing to avoid awkward conversation. See my chat with the patient but clueless Moon:

You may think that’s just a minor lapse, not knowing what a shard is, but don’t forget that this was just 30 seconds into our conversation. What happens then when you have to complain about a delivery problem in-game? No doubt some headaches.

Stock Situation – Low at Best
Right now, Gamemammy.com seems to be in a squeeze for Rift Platinum. Checking stock in itself took a total of 5 minutes, which is an extremely appalling rate given how automated the systems behind a virtual currency store are. My guess is they had to talk to suppliers to farm stock while we wait for the plat, as opposed to them having stock ready for delivery.

I was also turned off by their holier than thou attitude. What dear Moon doesn’t realize is that they are just as deceiving as their so-called inferior competitors. Remember how Moon checked the stock and said I can already “order it”?

Gamemammy.com seems to be on a take orders-then find stock later policy.

After my chat with Moon, I ordered their bare minimum 50 Rift Platinum on a different server, where my real toon was and got it almost two days later. If you’re a bulk buyer, Gamemammy.com might be the site for you—if you’re willing to wait for a long, long time.

P.S. Rift Patch 1.1 is keeping me away from some raid nights., but maybe the tides will change soon; Blizzard is cranking up the hype machine for WoW Patch 4.1!

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